Roman bronze figure which represent a Germanic man wearing a typical suebian knot hairstyle and a characteristic cloak. 2nd half 1st century to 1st half 2nd century AD National Library in Paris, France.

The Kingdom of the Suebi (Latin: Regnum Suevorum), also called the Kingdom of Gallæcia (Latin: Regnum Gallæciae), was a Germanicpost-Roman kingdom that was one of the first to separate from the Roman Empire. Based in the former Roman provinces of Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, the de facto kingdom was established by the Suebi about 409,[1] and during the 6th century it became a formally declared kingdom identifying with Gallaecia. It maintained its independence until 585, when it was annexed by the Visigoths, and was turned into the sixth province of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania.

Little is known about the Suevi who crossed the Rhine on the night of 31 December 406 AD and entered the Roman Empire. It is speculated that these Suevi are the same group as the Quadi, who are mentioned in early writings as living north of the middle Danube, in what is now lower Austria and western Slovakia,[2][3] and who played an important part in the Germanic Wars of the 2nd century, when, allied with the Marcomanni, they fought fiercely against the Romans under Marcus Aurelius. The main reason behind the identification of the Suevi and Quadi as the same group comes from a letter written by St. Jerome to Ageruchia, listing the invaders of the 406 crossing into Gaul, in which the Quadi are listed and the Suevi are not.[3] The argument for this theory, however, is based solely on the disappearance the Quadi in the text and the emergence of the Suevi, which conflicts with the testimony of other contemporary authors, such as Orosius, who did indeed cite the Suevi among the peoples traversing the Rhine in 406, and side by side with Quadi, Marcomanni, Vandals and Sarmatians in another passage.[4] Sixth century authors identified the Sueves of Galicia with the Alamanni,[5] or simply with Germans,[6] whilst the 4th century Laterculus Veronensis mentions some Suevi side by side with Alamanni, Quadi, Marcomanni and other Germanic peoples.

Additionally it has been pointed out that the lack of mention of the Suevi could mean that they were not per se an older distinct ethnic group, but the result of a recent ethnogenesis, with many smaller groups--among them part of the Quadi and Marcomanni--coming together during the migration from the Danube valley to the Iberian Peninsula.[7][8] Other groups of Sueves are mentioned by Jordanes and other historians as residing by the Danube regions during the 5th and 6th centuries.[7]

Although there is no clearly documented reason behind the migration of 406, a widely accepted theory is that the migration of the various Germanic peoples west of the Rhine was due to the westward push of the Huns during the late 4th century, which forced the Germanic peoples westward in response to the threat.[9] It should be noted that this theory has created controversy within the academic community, because of the lack of convincing evidence.

Whether displaced by the Huns or not, the Suevi along with the Vandals and Alans crossed the Rhine on the night of 31 December 405.[3][10] Their entrance into the Roman Empire was at a moment when the Roman West was experiencing a series of invasions and civil wars; between 405 and 406, the Western regions of the empire saw the invasion of Italy by Goths under Radagaisus, as well as a steady stream of usurpers. This allowed the invading barbarians to enter Gaul with little resistance, consequently allowing for the barbarians to cause considerable damage to the northern provinces of Germania Inferior, Belgica Prima, and Belgica Secunda before the empire saw them as a threat. In response to the barbarian invasion of Gaul, the usurper Constantine III halted the masses of Vandals, Alans, and Sueves, confining them to northern Gaul.[11] But in the spring of 409, Gerontius led a revolt in Hispania and set up his own emperor, Maximus. Constantine, who had recently been elevated to the title of Augustus, set off to Hispania to deal with the rebellion. Gerontius responded by stirring up the barbarians in Gaul against Constantine, convincing them to mobilize again, and, in the summer of 409, the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi began pushing south towards Hispania.[12][13][14]

The civil war that erupted in the Iberian Peninsula between the forces of Constantine and Gerontius left the passes through the Pyrenees either purposely or inadvertently neglected, leaving southern Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula vulnerable to barbarian attack. Hydatius documents that the crossing into the Iberian Peninsula by the Vandals, Alans, and Suevi took place on either 28 September or 12 October 409.[15] Some scholars take the two dates as the beginning and the end to the crossing of the formidable Pyrenees by scores of thousands, since this could not have possibly been accomplished in a twenty-four-hour time frame.[16] Hydatius writes that upon entering of Hispania the barbarian peoples-—and even the Roman soldiers—-spent 409–410 in a frenzy, plundering food and goods from the cities and countryside, which caused a famine that, according to Hydatius, forced the locals to resort to cannibalism: "[driven] by hunger human beings devoured human flesh; mothers too feasted upon the bodies of their own children whom they had killed and cooked with their own hands."[17] In 411 the various barbarian groups brokered a peace and divided the provinces of Hispania among themselves sorte, "by lot". Many scholars believe that the reference to "lot" may be to the sortes, "allotments," which barbarian federates received from the Roman government, which suggests that the Suevi and the other invaders had signed a treaty with Maximus. There is, however, no concrete evidence of any treaties between the Romans and the barbarians: Hydatius never mentions any treaty, and states that the peace in 411 was brought about by the compassion of the Lord,[18][19] while Orosius asserts that the kings of the Vandals, Alans and Sueves were actively pursuing a pact similar to that of the Visigoths at a later date.[20] The division of the land among the four barbarian groups went as such: the Siling Vandals settled in Hispania Baetica, the Alans were allotted the provinces of Lusitania and Hispania Carthaginensis, and the Hasding Vandals and the Suevi shared the northwestern province of Gallaecia.[19]

The division of Galicia between the Suevi and the Hasding Vandals placed the Suevi in the west of the province, by the Atlantic Ocean shores,[21] most probably in lands now between the cities of Porto in Portugal, in the south, and Pontevedra in Galicia, in the north. Soon Braga would become their capital, later expanding into Astorga, and in the region of Lugo and in the valley of the Minho river,[22] with no evidence suggesting that the Suevi inhabited any other cities in the province prior to 438.[23] The initial relation between Galicians and Suevi were not as calamitous as sometimes suggested,[24] as Hydatius mentions no conflict among the locals between 411 and 430. In the other hand, Orosius affirmed that the newcomers "turned their swords into ploughs" once they received their new lands.[25]

Based on some toponymical data, it has been proposed[26] that another Germanic group accompanied the Suebi and settled in Galicia, the Buri, allegedly in the region between the rivers Cávado and Homem, in the area known as Terras de Bouro (Lands of the Buri), known in the High Middle Ages as Burio.

In 416, the Visigoths entered the Iberian Peninsula, sent by the emperor of the West to fight off the barbarians arriving in 409. By 418, the Visigoths, led by their king, Wallia, had devastated both the Siling Vandals and Alans, leaving the Hasding Vandals and the Suevi, undisturbed by Wallia’s campaign, as the two remaining forces in the Iberian Peninsula.[27] In 419, after the departure of the Visigoths to their new lands in Aquitania, a conflict arose between the Vandals under Gunderic, and the Suevi, led by king Hermeric. Both armies met in the Battle of the Nerbasius mountains, but the intervention of Roman forces commanded by the comes HispaniarumAsterius ended the conflict by attacking the Vandals and forcing them to move to Baetica,[28] in modern Andalusia, leaving the Suevi in virtually sole possession of the whole province.

In 429, as the Vandals were preparing their departure to Africa, a Suevi warlord named Heremigarius moved to Lusitania to plunder it, but was confronted by the new Vandal king Gaiseric. Heremigarius drowned in the river Guadiana while retreating; this is the first instance of an armed Suebi action outside the provincial limits of Galicia. Then, after the Vandals left for Africa, the Sueves were the only barbarian entity left in Hispania.

King Hermeric spent the remainder of his years solidifying Suevic rule over the entire province of Galicia. In 430 he broke the old peace maintained with the locals, sacking central Gallaecia, although the barely romanized Galicians, who were reoccupying old Iron Agehill forts, managed to force a new peace, which was sealed with the interchange of prisoners. However, new hostilities broke out in 431 and 433. In 433 king Hermeric sent a local bishop, Synphosius, as ambassador,[29] this being the first evidence for collaboration between Sueves and locals. However, it was not until 438 that an enduring peace, which would last for twenty years, was reached in the province.

In 438 Hermeric became ill. Having annexed the entirety of the former Roman province of Gallaecia, he made peace with the local population,[24] and retired, leaving his son Rechila as king of the Sueves. Rechila saw an opportunity for expansion and began pushing to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula. In the same year he campaigned in Baetica, defeating in open battle the Romanae militiae dux Andevotus by the banks of the Genil river, capturing a large treasure.[30] A year later, in 439, the Sueves invaded Lusitania and entered into its capital, Mérida, which briefly became the new capital of their kingdom. Rechila continued with the expansion of the kingdom, and by 440 he fruitfully besieged and forced the surrender of a Roman official, count Censorius, in the strategic city of Mértola. Next year, in 441, the armies of Rechila conquered Seville, just months after the death of the old king Hermeric, who had ruled his people for more than thirty years. With the conquest of Seville, capital of Baetica, the Suevi managed to control Baetica and Carthaginensis.[31] It has been said,[32] however, that the Suevi conquest of Baetica and Carthaginensis was limited to raids, and Suevi presence, if any, was minute.

In 446, the Romans dispatched to the provinces of Baetica and Carthaginensis the magister utriusque militiae Vitus, who, assisted by a large number of Goths, attempted to subdue the Suevi and restore imperial administration in Hispania. Rechila marched to meet the Romans, and after defeating the Goths, Vitus fled in disgrace; no more imperial attempts were made to retake Hispania.[33][34] In 448, Rechila died as a pagan, leaving the crown to his son, Rechiar.

Rechiar, a Catholic Christian, succeeded his father in 448, being one of the first Catholic Christian kings among the Germanic peoples, and the first one to mint coins in his own name. Some believe minting the coins was a sign of Suevi autonomy, due to the use of minting in the late empire as a declaration of independence.[35] Hoping to follow the successful careers of his father and his grandfather, Rechiar made a series of bold political moves throughout his reign. The first one was his marriage to the daughter of the Gothic king Theodoric I in 448, so improving the relationship between the two peoples. He also led a number of successful plundering campaigns to Vasconia, Saragossa and Lleida, in Hispania Tarraconensis (then the northeastern quarter of the peninsula, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Biscay, which was still under Roman rule) sometimes acting in coalition with local bagaudae (local Hispano-Roman insurgents). In Lleida he also captured prisoners, who were taken as serfs back to the Sueves' lands in Galicia and Lusitania.[36] Rome then sent an ambassador to the Sueves, obtaining some concessions, but in 455 the Sueves plundered lands in Carthaginensis which had been previously returned to Rome. In response, the new emperor Avitus and the Visigoths sent a joint embassy, remembering that the peace established with Rome was also granted by the Goths. But Rechiar launched two new campaigns in Tarraconensis, in 455 and 456, returning to Galicia with large numbers of prisoners.[37]

The emperor Avitus finally responded to Rechiar's defiance in the autumn of 456, sending the Visigoth king Theodoric II over the Pyrenees and into Galicia, at the head of a large army of foederati which also included the Burgundian kings Gundioc and Hilperic.[38] The Suevi mobilized and both armies met on 5 October, by the river Órbigo near Astorga. Theoderic II's Goths, on the right wing, defeated the Suevi. While many Sueves were killed in the battle, and many others were captured, most managed to flee.[39] King Rechiar fled wounded in the direction of the coast, pursued by the Gothic army, which entered and plundered Braga on 28 October. King Rechiar was captured later in Porto while trying to embark, and was executed in December. Theodoric continued his war on the Suevi for three months, but in April 459 he returned to Gaul, alarmed by the political and military movements of the new emperor, Majorian, and of the magister militumRicimer—a half-Sueve, maybe a kinsman of Rechiar[40]—while his allies and the rest of the Goths sacked Astorga, Palencia and other places, on their way back to the Pyrenees.

When the Visigoths disposed of Rechiar, the royal bloodline of Hermeric vanished and the conventional mechanism for Suevi leadership died with it. In 456, one Aioulf took over the leadership of the Sueves. The origins behind Aioulf’s ascension are not clear: Hydatius wrote that Aioulf was a Goth deserter, while the historian Jordanes wrote that he was a Warni appointed by Theodoric to govern Galicia,[41] and that he was persuaded by the Suevi into this adventure. Either way, he was killed in Porto in June 457, but his rebellion, together with the armed actions of Majorian against the Visigoths, eased the pressure on the Suevi.

In 456, the same year as the execution of Rechiar, Hydatius stated that "the Sueves set up Maldras as their king."[42] This statement suggests that the Suevi as a people may have had a voice in the selection of a new ruler.[43] The election of Maldras would lead to a schism among the Suevi, as some followed another king, named Framta, who died just a year later.[44] Both factions then sought peace with the local Galicians.

In 458 the Goths again sent an army into Hispania, which arrived in Betica in July, thereby depriving the Sueves of this province. This field army stayed in Iberia for several years.

In 460 Maldras was killed, after a reign of four years during which he plundered Sueves and Romans alike, in Lusitania and in the southern extreme of Gallaecia along the valley of the Douro river. Meanwhile, the Sueves in the north chose another leader, Rechimund, who plundered Galicia in 459 and 460. This same year they captured the walled city of Lugo, which was still under the authority of a Roman official. As a response, the Goths sent their army to punish the Suevi who dwelt in the outskirts of the city and nearby regions, but their campaign was revealed by some locals, whom Hydatius considered traitors.[45] From that very moment Lugo became an important centre for the Sueves, and was used as capital by Rechimund.

In the south Frumar succeeded Maldras and his faction, but his death in 464 closed a period of internal dissent among the Sueves, and permanent conflict with the native population.

In 464, Remismund, an ambassador who had travelled between Galicia and Gaul on several occasions, became King. Remismund was able to unite the factions of Suevi under his rule, and at the same time restore peace. He was also recognized, perhaps even approved of, by Theodoric, who sent him gifts and weapons along with a wife.[46] Under the leadership of Remismund, the Suevi would again raid the nearby countries, plundering the lands of Lusitania and the Conventus Asturicense, whilst still fighting Galician tribes like the Aunonenses, who refused to submit to Remismund. In 468 they managed to destroy part of the walls of Conimbriga, in Lusitania, which was sacked[47] and then mostly abandoned after the inhabitants fled or were taken back to the north as slaves.[48] Next year they even managed to capture Lisbon, which was surrendered by its leader, Lusidio. He later became ambassador of the Suevi to the Emperor. The end of the chronicle of Hydatius in 468 doesn't let us know the later fate of Remismund.

The Suevi probably remained mostly pagan until an Arian missionary named Ajax, sent by the Visigothic king Theodoric II at the request of the Suebic unifier Remismund, converted them in 466 and established a lasting Arian church which dominated the people until their conversion to Catholicism in the 560s.

Little is known of the period between 470 and 550, beyond the testimony of Isidore of Seville, who in the 7th century wrote that many kings reign during this time, all of them Arians. A medieval document named Divisio Wambae mentions one king named Theodemund, otherwise unknown.[49] Other less reliable and very posterior chronicles mention the reign of several kings under the names of Hermeneric II, Rechila II and Rechiar II.[50]

More trustworthy is a stone inscription found in Portugal, recording the foundation of a church by a nun, in 535, under the rule of one Veremund who is addressed as the most serene king Veremund,[51] although this inscription has also been attributed to king Bermudo II of León. Also, thanks to a letter sent by Pope Vigilius to the bishop Profuturus of Braga circa 540, it is known that a certain number of Catholic Orthodox had converted to Arianism, and that some Catholic Orthodox churches had been demolished in the past in unspecified circumstances.[52]

The conversion of the Suebi to Orthodoxy is presented very differently in the primary sources. A contemporary record, the minutes of the First Council of Braga—which met on 1 May 561—state explicitly that the synod was held at the orders of a king named Ariamir. While his Orthodoxy is not in doubt, that he was the first Orthodox monarch of the Suebes since Rechiar has been contested on the grounds that he is not explicitly stated to have been.[53] He was, however, the first to hold a Orthodox synod. On the other hand, the Historia Suevorum of Isidore of Seville states that it was Theodemar who brought about the conversion of his people from Arianism with the help of the missionary Martin of Braga.[54] And finally, according to the Frankish historian Gregory of Tours, an otherwise unknown sovereign named Chararic, having heard of Martin of Tours, promised to accept the beliefs of the saint if only his son was cured of leprosy. Through the relics and intercession of Saint Martin the son was healed; Chararic and the entire royal household converted to the Nicene faith.[55] As the coming of the relics of Saint Martin of Tours and the conversion of Chararic are made to coincide in the narration with the arrival of Martin of Braga, circa 550, this legend has been interpreted as an allegory of the pastoral work of Saint Martin of Braga, and of his devotion to Saint Martin of Tours.[56]

Most scholars have attempted to meld these stories. It has been alleged that Chararic and Theodemar must have been successors of Ariamir, since Ariamir was the first Suebic monarch to lift the ban on Orthodox synods; Isidore therefore gets the chronology wrong.[57][58] Reinhart suggested that Chararic was converted first through the relics of Saint Martin and that Theodemar was converted later through the preaching of Martin of Braga.[53]

Dahn equated Chararic with Theodemar, even saying that the latter was the name he took upon baptism.[53] It has also been suggested that Theodemar and Ariamir were the same person and the son of Chararic.[53] In the opinion of some historians, Chararic is nothing more than an error on the part of Gregory of Tours and never existed.[59] If, as Gregory relates, Martin of Braga died about the year 580 and had been bishop for about thirty years, then the conversion of Chararic must have occurred around 550 at the latest.[55] Finally, Ferreiro believes the conversion of the Suevi was progressive and stepwise and that Chararic's public conversion was only followed by the lifting of a ban on Orthodox synods in the reign of his successor, which would have been Ariamir; while Theodemar would have been responsible for beginning a persecution of the Arians in his kingdom, to root out their heresy.[60]

Finally, the Suebic conversion is ascribed not to a Suebe, but to a Visigoth, by the chronicler John of Biclarum. He put their conversion alongside that of the Goths, occurring under Reccared I in 587–589, but, as such, this corresponds to a later time, when the kingdom was undergoing its integration with the Visigothic kingdom.

Sometime late in the 5th century or early in the sixth century, a group of Romano-Britons escaping the Anglo-Saxons settled in the north of the Suebic Kingdom of Gallaecia,[61] in lands which subsequently acquired the name Britonia.[62] Most of what is known about the settlement comes from ecclesiastical sources; records from the 572 Second Council of Braga refer to a diocese called the Britonensis ecclesia ("British church") and an episcopal see called the sedes Britonarum ("See of the Britons"), while the administrative and ecclesiastical document usually known as Divisio Theodemiri or Parochiale suevorum, attribute to them their own churches and the monastery Maximi, likely the monastery of Santa Maria de Bretoña.[62] The bishop representing this diocese at the II Council of Braga bore the Brythonic name Mailoc.[62] The see continued to be represented at several councils through the 7th century.

On 1 May 561, king Ariamir, who was in the third year of his reign, called the First Council of Braga, being styled The most glorious king Ariamir in the acts. The first Orthodox Council held in the Kingdom, it was almost entirely devoted to the condemnation of Priscillianism, making no mention at all of Arianism, and only once reproving clerics for adorning his clothes and for wearing granos, a Germanic word implying either pigtails, long beard, moustache, or a Suebian knot, a custom declared pagan.[63] Of the eight assistant bishops only one bore a Germanic name, bishop Ilderic.

Later, on 1 January 569, Ariamir's successor, Theodemar, held a council in Lugo,[64] which dealt with the administrative and ecclesiastical organization of the Kingdom. At his request, the kingdom of Galicia was divided in two provinces or synods, under the obedience of the metropolitans Braga and Lugo, and thirteen episcopal sees, some of them new, for which new bishops were ordered, others old: Iria Flavia, Britonia, Astorga, Ourense and Tui, in the north, under the obedience of Lugo; and Dume, Porto, Viseu, Lamego, Coimbra and Idanha-a-Velha in the south, dependent of Braga.[65] Each see was then further divided into smaller territories, named ecclesiae and pagi. The election of Lugo as metropolitan of the north was due to its central situation in relation to its dependant sees, as well as because of the large number of Sueves dwelling in and meeting at the city.[66]

Miro, king of Galicia, and Saint Martin of Braga, from an 1145 manuscript of Martin's Formula Vitae Honestae,[67] now in the Austrian National Library. Martin's work was originally addressed to King Miro: "To King Miro, the most glorious and calm, the pious, distinguished for his Catholic faith"

According to John of Biclaro, in 570 Miro succeeded Theodemar as king of the Sueves.[68][69] During his time, the Suevic kingdom was challenged again by the Visigoths who, under their king Leovigild, were reconstituting their kingdom, reduced and mostly ruled by foreigners since their defeat by the Franks in the Battle of Vouillé.[70]

This same year of 572 Miro led an expedition against the Runcones. This movement took place at a moment when the Visigoth king Leovigild was conducting successful military activity in the south: he had recovered for the Visigoths the cities of Cordova and Medina-Sidonia, and had led a successful assault on the region around the city of Málaga. But from 573 on his campaigns got closer to Suevic lands, first occupying Sabaria, later the Aregenses mountains and Cantabria, where he expelled some invaders. Finally, in 576, he entered Galicia itself, disturbing the boundaries of the kingdom, but Miro sent ambassadors and obtained from Leovigild a temporary peace. It was probably during this period that the Suevi also sent some ambassadors to the Frankish king Gontram,[72] who were intercepted by Chilperic I near Poitiers, and imprisoned for a year, as recorded by Gregory of Tours.[73]

Later, in 579, Leovigild's son, prince Hermenegild, rebelled against his father, proclaiming himself king. He, while residing in Seville, had converted to Catholicism under the influence of his wife, the Frankish princess Ingundis, and of Leander of Seville,[74] in open opposition to the Arianism of his father. But it was not until 582 that Leovigild gathered his armies to attack his son: first, he took Mérida; then, in 583, he marched to Seville. Under siege, Hermenegild's rebellion became dependent on the support offered by the Eastern Roman Empire, which controlled much of the southern coastal regions of Hispania since Justinian I, and by the Sueves.[75] This same year Miro, king of the Gallicians, marched south with his army, with the intention of breaking through the blockade, but, while camped, he found himself besieged by Leovigild, and was then forced to sign a treaty of fidelity with the Visigothic king. After exchanging presents, Miro returned to Galicia, where he was laid to bed some days later, dying soon after, due to "the bad waters of Spain", according to Gregory of Tours.[76] Hermenegild's rebellion ended in 584, as Leovigild bribed the Byzantines with 30,000 solidi, thereby depriving his son of their support.[77]

On the death of Miro, his son Eburic was made king, but apparently not before sending tokens of appreciation and friendship to Leovigild.[78] Not a year later his brother-in-law, named Audeca, accompanied by the army, seized power. He took Eburic into a monastery forced him to ordain as a priest, thereby making him ineligible for the throne. Then Audeca married Siseguntia, king Miro's widow, and made himself king. This usurpation and the friendship granted by Eboric gave Leovigild the opportunity to seize the neighboring kingdom. In 585 Leovigild went to war against the Sueves, invading Galicia. In the words of John of Biclaro:[79] "King Leovigild devastates Galicia and deprives Audeca of the totality of the Kingdom; the nation of the Sueves, their treasure and fatherland are conduced to his own power and turned into a province of the Goths." During the campaign, the Franks of king Guntram attacked Septimania, maybe trying to help the Sueves,[80] at the same time sending ships to Galicia which were intercepted by Leovigild's troops, who took their cargo and killed or enslaved most of their crews. Thus was the kingdom transferred to the Goths as one of their three administrative regions: Gallaecia, Hispania and Gallia Narbonensis.[69][81] Audeca, captured, was tonsured and forced to take holy orders, then sent into exile in Beja, in Southern Lusitania.

This same year, 585, a man named Malaric rebelled against the Goths and reclaimed the throne, but he was finally defeated and captured by the generals of Leovigild, who took him in chains to the Visigothic king.

After the conquest, king Leovigild reintroduced the Arian Church among the Sueves,[82] but this was a short-lived institution, because after his death in 586 his son Reccared openly promoted the mass conversion of Visigoths and Sueves to Catholicism. Reccared's plans were opposed by a group of Arian conspirators; its leader, Segga, was exiled to Galicia, after his hands were amputated. The conversion occurred during the Third Council of Toledo, with the assistance of seventy-two bishops from Hispania, Gaul and Galicia. There, eight bishops renounced their Arianism, among them four Suevi:[82] Beccila of Lugo, Gardingus of Tui, Argiovittus of Porto, and Sunnila of Viseu. The mass conversion was celebrated by king Reccared: "Not only the conversion of the Goths is found among the favours that we have received, but also the infinite multitude of the Sueves, whom with divine assistance we have subjected to our realm. Although led into heresy by external fault, with our diligence we have brought them to the origins of truth".[83] He was styled as "King of the Visigoths and of the Suevi" in a letter sent to him by Pope Gregory the Great soon after.[84]

Under the Goths, the administrative apparatus of the Suevi Kingdom was initially maintained —many of the Suevi districts established during the reign of Theodemar are also known as later Visigothic mints[85]— but during the middle years of the seventh century an administrative and ecclesiastical reform led to the disappearance of most of these mints, with the exception of that of the cities of Lugo, Tui, and Braga. Also the northern Lusitanian bishoprics of Lamego, Viseu, Coimbra and Idanha-a-Velha, in lands which had been annexed to Galicia in the fifth century, were returned to the obedience of Mérida. It has been also pointed out that no visible Gothic immigration took place during the 6th and the 7th century into Galicia.[86]

The last mention of the Sueves as a separate people dates to a 10th-century gloss in a Spanish codex:[87] "hanc arbor romani pruni vocant, spani nixum, uuandali et goti et suebi et celtiberi ceruleum dicunt" ("This tree is called plum-tree by the Romans; nixum by the Spaniards; the Vandals, the Sueves, the Goths, and the Celtiberians call it ceruleum"), but in this context Suebi probably meant simply Galicians.

Paulus Orosius, who lived in Gallaecia when the Suevi arrived, was one of the main chroniclers reporting on the rise of the Suevic kingdom. Medieval miniature from the Saint-Epure codex.

Unlike some other barbarian peoples, such as the Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Huns, which played an important part in Rome's loss of the western provinces, the Sueves—establishing themselves in Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, which were remote and extra-Mediterranean areas—seldom posed a threat to Rome and to Rome's interests; in fact, at times where we have more detailed knowledge of their history through a diversity of sources, that is precisely when they became a challenge, as it was under the reign of Rechila. Throughout their history as an independent nation, they maintained an important diplomatic activity,[88] most notably with Rome, the Vandals, the Visigoths, and, later, with the Franks. Again, they become important players during the reign of Miro, in the last third of the 6th century, when they allied with other Catholic powers—the Franks and the Eastern Romans—in support of Hermenegild, and against the Visigothic king Leovigild. Because of their relative isolation and remoteness, sources about the Suevi people are limited, with the number translated into English even fewer.

The most important source for the history of the Suevi during the 5th century is the chronicle written by the native bishop Hydatius in 470, as a continuation of the Chronicle of Saint Jerome. Hydatius was born circa 400, in the city of the Limici, straddling the southern borders of modern-day Galicia, on the valley of the Limia river. He witnessed the 409 settlement of the Suevi peoples in the Iberian Peninsula,[89] and Galicia's transformation from Roman province into an independent barbarian kingdom. Through much of his life he was forced to stay in isolated Roman communities, constantly threatened by the Suevi and Vandals,[90] though we also know that he travelled on several occasions outside of Hispania, for learning or as ambassador, and that he maintained correspondence with other bishops. In 460 he was captured by the Suevic warlord Frumarius, accused of treason by other local men. After being held captive for three months, as the Suevi ravaged the region of Chaves,[91] he was then released unharmed, against the will of the men who had accused him. Hydatius' chronicle, whilst purporting to be universal, slowly turns into a local history. Following the barbarian settlements, he relates the conflict among the diverse nations; later, he also narrates the frequent conflict of the Sueves with the local, barely romanized, Galicians; the decline of the Roman powers in Hispania; the expansion of the Suevi into the south and the east; their defeat at the hands of Visigoths and other Roman foederati forces; and the posterior reconstitution of their kingdom under Remismund, together with their conversion to Arianism. While he is considered a great historian, his portraits are usually obscure, without any real reason or direction given to the decisions or movement of the Suevi, by mentioning what the Suevi did, but rarely what they said, or what they pretended. So Hydatius's image of the Suevi is from the outside, as lawless marauders.[92] This description of the Suevi has bled into secondary sources: E.A. Thomson, an expert who has written many pieces on the subject, stated, "they just lash out blindly from year to year at any place that they suspected would supply them with food, valuables or money."[93]

Another important source for the history of the Sueves during the initial settlement phase is the Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, by Orosius, another local historian. He painted a very different picture of the initial settlement of Sueves and Vandals, less catastrophic than that narrated by Hydatius. In his narration, Sueves and Vandals, after a violent entrance into Hispania, resume a pacific life, while many poor locals joined them, fleeing from Roman taxes and impositions. However, as has been pointed out, his narration is also biased by his agenda, as he was trying to exculpate Christianity for the fall and decadence of Rome.[94]

The conflict of Vandals and Sueves is also narrated by Gregory of Tours,[95] who in the 6th century narrated the blockade, the death of Gunderic under unknown circumstances, and the resolution of the conflict in a champions' fight, with the defeated Vandals forced to leave Galicia. A somewhat different history apparently was told among the Vandals, as Procopius wrote that in their traditions king Gunderic was captured and impaled by Germans in Spain.[6]

For the mid-fifth century we have also chapter 44 of Jordanes' Getica, which narrates the defeat of the Suevi king Rechiar at the hands of the Roman foederati troops commanded by the Visigoths. It is a vivid, if brief, narration, where Rechiar, a defiant man, has a purpose, a mood, and emotions, as do the rest of the protagonists.

The ending of the Chronicle of Hydatius, in 469, marks the beginning of a period of obscurity in the history of the Sueves, who don’t re-emerge into historical light until the mid-sixth century, when we have plenty of sources. Among these, the most notable are the works of the PannonianMartin of Braga, sometimes called the apostle of the Sueves, as well as the accounts of Gregory of Tours. In the Miracles of Saint Martin, Gregory narrated, and attributed to a miracle of Saint Martin of Tours, the conversion of king Chararic to Catholicism, while in the History of the Franks he dedicated several chapters to the relations of Sueves, Visigoths and Franks, and to the end of the independence of the Suevi, annexed by the Visigoths in 585. On the other hand, Martin of Braga, a monk who arrived in Galicia circa 550, became a true transformative power: as founder of monasteries and as bishop and abbot of Dume he promoted the conversion of the Sueves, and later as archbishop of Braga and maximum religious authority of the kingdom he participated in the reformation of the Church and of the local administration. Several of his works have been preserved, among them a Formula for an Honest life dedicated to King Miro; a treatise against the superstitions of the country inhabitants; and several other minor treatises. He was also present in the Councils of Braga, with the deliberations of the second one being led by him, as archbishop of the capital, Braga. The acts of these Councils, together with the Divisio Theodemiri, are the most precious sources on the inner political and religious life of the kingdom.

Of paramount importance is also the chronicle written by John of Biclaro, a Visigoth, circa 590.[94] While probably partial,[83] his accounts are precious for the last 15 years of independence of the Sueves, as well as for the first years of the Sueves under Visigothic rule.

Finally, of great interest is also a history written by Isidore of Seville.[96] He used Hydatius’s accounts, together with the Chronicle of John of Biclaro,[97] to form an abridged history of the Suevi in Hispania. The controversy around Isidore’s historiography is centered on his omissions and additions, which many historians and scholars consider too numerous to all be simply mistakes. Throughout Isidore’s History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals, and Sueves certain details from Hydatius are altered.[98] Many scholars attribute these changes to the fact that Isidore may have had sources other than Hydatius at his disposal.[99]

It has been said that the history and relevance of Suevic Galicia was long marginalised and obscured inside Spain, mainly for political reasons.[100] It was left to a German scholar, Wilhem Reinhart, to write the first connected history of the Suebi in Galicia.

Most notable were their contributions to local toponymy and anthroponymy, as personal names borne by the Sueves were in use among Galicians up to the Low Middle Ages, while East Germanic names in general were most common among locals during the High Middle Ages.[117] From these names is derived also a rich toponymy, found mainly in northern Portugal and Galicia,[25] and made up of several thousand place names derived directly from Germanic personal names, expressed as Germanic or Latin genitives:[118]Sandiás, medieval Sindilanes, Germanic genitive form of the name Sindila; Mondariz from the Latin genitive form Munderici Munderic's; Gondomar from Gundemari and Baltar from Baltarii, both in Portugal and Galicia; Guitiriz to Witterici. Another group of toponyms which point to old Germanic settlements are the places named Sa, Saa, Sas, in Galicia, or Sá in Portugal, all derived from the Germanic word *sal- 'house, hall',[102] and distributed mostly around Braga, Porto and in the Minho river valley in Portugal, and around Lugo in Galicia, totalling more than a hundred.

In modern Galicia, four parishes and six towns and villages are still named Suevos or Suegos, from the medieval form Suevos, all of them from the Latin Sueuos 'Sueves', and referring to old Suevi settlements.

^"Numerous barbarous and savage tribes, that is to say, the Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Vandals, the Sarmatians, the Suebi, in fact the tribes from nearly all of Germany, rose in rebellion"; "Moreover, other nations irresistible in numbers and might who are now oppressing the provinces of Gaul and Spain (namely, the Alans, Suebi, and Vandals, as well as the Burgundians who were driven on by the same movement)"; "two years before the taking of Rome, the nations that had been stirred up by Stilicho, as I have said, that is, the Alans, Suebi, Vandals as well as many others with them, overwhelmed the Franks, crossed the Rhine, invaded Gaul, and advanced in their onward rush as far as the Pyrenees", Paulus Orosius, History against the pagans, VII.15, 38 and 40.

^"Suebi, id est Alamanni", Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, II.2

^"Wallia ... to insure the security of Rome he risked his own life by taking over the warfare against the other tribes that had settled in Spain and subduing them for the Romans. However, the other kings, those of the Alans, the Vandals, and the Suebi, had made a bargain with us on the same terms, sending this message to the emperor Honorius: «Do you be at peace with us all and receive hostages of all; we struggle with one another, we perish to our own loss, but we conquer for you, indeed with permanent gain to your state, if we should both perish.»", Orosius, History against the pagans, VII.43

^Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, VI.43. Whilst John of Biclaro, and Isidore of Seville after him, narrates a different account, the version of Gregory is usually taken as the most faithful one. Cf. Thompson, E.A. (1979). Los godos en España (2a. ed.). Madrid: Alianza Editorial. p. 87. ISBN84-206-1321-5.

^ ab"The small proprietors in contrast were men of overwhelmingly Celtic, Roman and Suevic stock, not Visigoths, for in the century since Leovigild's conquest of the Suevic kingdom in 585 there had been no perceptible Visigothic migration to the northwest.", Bishko, Charles Julian (1984). Spanish and Portuguese monastic history, 600-1300. London: Variorum Reprints. p. 21. ISBN978-0-86078-136-3.

1.
Braga
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Braga is a city and a municipality in the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga, in the historical and cultural Minho Province. The city has 137,000 inhabitants, and the municipality and its agglomerated urban area extends from the Cávado River to the Este River. The city was the European Youth Capital in 2012 and it is host to the archdiocese, the oldest in Portugal. Under the Roman Empire, known as Bracara Augusta, the settlement was centre of the province of Gallaecia, Braga is a major hub for inland Northern Portugal. Human occupation of the region of Braga dates back thousands of years, during the Iron Age, the Castro culture extended into the northwest, characterized by Bracari peoples who occupied the high ground in strategically located fortified settlements. The region became the domain of the Callaici Bracarii, or Bracarenses, the Romans began their conquest of the region around 136 BC, and finished it during the reign of Emperor Augustus. The city of Bracara Augusta developed greatly during the 1st century, during the Germanic Invasions of the Iberian Peninsula, the area was conquered by the Suebi, a Germanic people from Central Europe. In 410, the Suebi established a Kingdom in northwest Iberia, which they maintained as Gallaecia, about 584, the Visigothic conquerors of Hispania took control of Gallaecia. They renounced the Arian and Priscillianist hearesies during two synods held here in the 6th century, as a consequence, the archbishops of Braga later claimed the title of Primate of Portugal, then a county, and for a long period, claimed supremacy over the entire Hispanic church. Yet, their authority was never accepted throughout Hispania, Braga had an important role in the Christianization of the Iberian Peninsula. The first known bishop of Braga, Paternus, lived at the end of the 4th century, at the time, Martin also founded an important monastery in Dumio, and it was in Braga that Archbishopric of Braga held their councils. The transition from Visigothic reigns to the Muslim conquest of Iberia was very obscure, representing a period of transition, as a consequence, the bishopric was restored in 1070, the first new bishop, Pedro, started rebuilding the Cathedral. Between 1093 and 1147, Braga became the seat of the Portuguese court. In the early 12th century, Count Henry of Portugal and bishop Geraldo de Moissac reclaimed the seat for Braga. The medieval city developed around the cathedral, with the authority in the city retained by the archbishop. In the 16th century, due to its distance from the coast and provincial status and he expanded and remodelled the cathedral by adding a new chapel in the Manueline style, and generally turning the mediaeval town into a Renaissance city. With the invasion of French troops, during the Peninsular Wars the city was relegated, once again, but, by the second half of that century, with influence from Portuguese immigrants living in Brazil, new money and tastes resulted in improvements to architecture and infrastructures. The topography in the municipality is characterized by valleys, interspersed by mountainous spaces

2.
Visigothic Kingdom
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The Visigothic Kingdom or Kingdom of the Visigoths was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. The Kingdom maintained independence from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, the kingdom of the 6th and 7th centuries is sometimes called the regnum Toletanum after the new capital of Toledo. The ethnic distinction between the indigenous Hispano-Roman population and the Visigoths had largely disappeared by this time, Liber Iudiciorum abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans and for Visigoths. Most of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by Arab Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 AD and these gave birth to the medieval Kingdom of Asturias when a local landlord called Pelayo, most likely of Gothic origin, was elected Princeps by the Astures. The Visigoths also developed the influential law code known in Western Europe as the Liber Iudiciorum. From 407 to 409 AD, the Germanic Vandals, with the allied Alans and Suebi, crossed the frozen Rhine, for their part, the Visigoths under Alaric famously sacked Rome in 410, capturing Galla Placidia, the sister of Western Roman emperor Honorius. After he married Placidia, the Emperor Honorius enlisted him to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from the Vandals, Alans and Suevi. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia by giving land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This probably took place under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers, the Visigoths with their capital at Toulouse, remained de facto independent, and soon began expanding into Roman territory at the expense of the feeble Western empire. Under Theodoric I, the Visigoths attacked Arles and Narbonne, but were checked by Flavius Aetius using Hunnic mercenaries, by 451, the situation had reversed and the Huns had invaded Gaul, now Theodoric fought under Aetius against Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila was driven back, but Theodoric was killed in the battle, the Vandals completed the conquest of North Africa when they took Carthage on October 19,439 and the Suevi had taken most of Hispania. The Roman emperor Avitus now sent the Visigoths into Hispania, Theodoric II invaded and defeated the King of the Suevi, Rechiarius, at the battle on the river Orbigo in 456 near Asturica Augusta and then sacked Bracara Augusta the Suevi capital. The Goths sacked the cities in Spain quite brutally, they massacred a portion of the population and even attacked some holy places, theoderic took control over Hispania Baetica, Carthaginiensis and southern Lusitania. In 461, the Goths received the city of Narbonne from the emperor Libius Severus in exchange for their support. This led to a revolt by the army and by Gallo-Romans under Aegidius, as a result, Romans under Severus and the Visigoths fought other Roman troops, in 466, Euric, who was the youngest son of Theodoric I, came to the Visigothic throne. He is infamous for murdering his elder brother Theodoric II who had become king by murdering his elder brother Thorismund. Under Euric, the Visigoths began expanding in Gaul and consolidating their presence in the Iberian peninsula, Euric fought a series of wars with the Suebi who retained some influence in Lusitania, and brought most of this region under Visigothic power, taking Emerita Augusta in 469. Euric also attacked the Western Roman Empire, capturing Hispania Tarraconensis in 472, by 476, he had extended his rule to the Rhone and the Loire rivers which comprised most of southern Gaul

3.
Western Roman Empire
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Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death between his two sons. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire, for this reason, provincial governors had de facto rule in the name of the Roman Republic. Antony received the provinces in the East, Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus, Bithynia, Pontus and Asia, Syria, Cyprus and these lands had previously been conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin. The whole region, especially the cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture. Octavian obtained the Roman provinces of the West, Italia, Gaul, Gallia Belgica and these lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though Celtic tribes such as Gauls and Celtiberians were culturally dominant. Lepidus received the province of Africa. Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Sicilia to his holdings, upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual Romanization, minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion, while this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the Great Jewish Revolt. In a full-blown military campaign, the legions, under such as Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commanders loyalty, an emperor might hold some members of the generals family hostage. To this end, Nero effectively held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of Ostia, the rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of Galba. The Praetorian Guard, a sword of Damocles, were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the increased participation in the civil wars. The main enemy in the West was arguably the Germanic tribes behind the rivers Rhine, Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the Teutoburg reversal. The Parthian Empire, in the East, on the hand, was too remote. Those distant territories were forsaken to prevent unrest and also to ensure a more healthy, the Parthians were followed by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire

4.
Gibraltar
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Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence

5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth

6.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north

7.
Germanic peoples
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The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language

8.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor

9.
Lusitania
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Lusitania or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people and its capital was Emerita Augusta, and it was initially part of the Roman Republic province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the Roman Empire. Romans first came to the territory around the mid 2nd century BC, a war with Lusitanian tribes followed, from 155 to 139 BC. In 27 BC, the province was created, the etymology of the name of the Lusitani remains unclear. Luís de Camões epic Os Lusíadas, which portrays Lusus as the founder of Lusitania, extends these ideas, in his work, Geography, the classical geographer Strabo suggests a change had occurred in the use of the name Lusitanian. He mentions a group who had once been called Lusitanians living north of the Douro river but were called in his day Callacans. The Lusitani, who were Indo-European speakers, established themselves in the region in the 6th century BC, some modern authors consider them to be an indigenous people who were Celticized culturally and possibly also through intermarriage. The archeologist Scarlat Lambrino defended the position that the Lusitanians were a group of Celtic origin related to the Lusones. Some have claimed that both came from the Swiss mountains. Others argue that the points to the Lusitanians being a native Iberian tribe. In 179 BC, the praetor Lucius Postumius Albinus celebrated a triumph over the Lusitani, but in 155 BC, on the command of Punicus first and Cesarus after, here they were defeated by the praetor Lucius Mummius. From 152 BC onwards, the Roman Republic had difficulties in recruiting soldiers for the wars in Hispania, in 150 BC, Servius Sulpicius Galba organised a false armistice. Two years after, in 137 BC Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus led a campaign against the Lusitani. Its northern border was along the Douro river, while on its side its border passed through Salmantica. Felicitas Iulia Olisipo was a Roman law municipality) and 3 other towns had the old Latin status (Ebora, the other 37 were of stipendiarii class, among which Aeminium, Balsa, or Mirobriga. Other cities include Ossonoba, Cetobriga, Collippo or Arabriga, under Diocletian, Lusitania kept its borders and was ruled by a praeses, later by a consularis, finally, in 298 AD, it was united with the other provinces to form the Diocesis Hispaniarum. In the second book in the science fiction novels comprising the Enders Game series, titled Speaker for the Dead and it is explained in the book that it was named for the historical people and territory in Portugal, which the inhabitants are descended from

10.
Visigoths
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The Visigoths were the western branches of the nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples referred to collectively as the Goths. These tribes flourished and spread throughout the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, the Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups who had invaded the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable, alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient, the Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and sacked Rome in 410. The Visigoths first settled in southern Gaul as foederati of the Romans – a relationship established in 418, however, they soon fell out with their Roman hosts and established their own kingdom with its capital at Toulouse. They next extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi, in 507, however, their rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I, who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé. After that, the Visigoth kingdom was limited to Hispania, in or around 589, the Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arianism to Nicene Christianity, gradually adopting the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code abolished the practice of applying different laws for Romans. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Gothi, they became known collectively as Hispani, in the century that followed, the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy. In 711 or 712, a force of invading African Moors defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete and their king and many members of their governing elite were killed, and their kingdom rapidly collapsed. During their governance of the Kingdom of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survive and they also left many artifacts, which have been discovered in increasing numbers by archaeologists in recent times. The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses is the most spectacular and they founded the only new cities in western Europe from the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty. Many Visigothic names are still in use in modern Spanish and Portuguese, contemporaneous references to the Gothic tribes use the terms Vesi, Ostrogothi, Thervingi, and Greuthungi. Most scholars have concluded that the terms Vesi and Tervingi were both used to refer to one particular tribe, while the terms Ostrogothi and Greuthungi were used to refer to another. In addition, the Notitia Dignitatum equates the Vesi with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391, the earliest sources for each of the four names are roughly contemporaneous. The first recorded reference to the Tervingi is in a eulogy of the emperor Maximian, delivered in or shortly after 291 and it says that the Tervingi, another division of the Goths, joined with the Taifali to attack the Vandals and Gepidae. The first known use of the term Ostrogoths is in a document dated September 392 from Milan and this would explain why the latter terms dropped out of use shortly after 400, when the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions. Wolfram believes that the people Zosimus describes were those Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest, for the most part, all of the terms discriminating between different Gothic tribes gradually disappeared after they moved into the Roman Empire. The last indication that the Goths whose king reigned at Toulouse thought of themselves as Vesi is found in a panegyric on Avitus by Sidonius Apollinaris dated 1 January 456, most recent scholars have concluded that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire

11.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province

12.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC

Braga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɾaɣɐ] (listen); Proto-Celtic: *Bracara) is a city and a municipality in the …

A 16th-century map of Braga, when the city was enclosed by its mediaeval wall. The large building in the centre is the Cathedral, while the Episcopal Palace and courtyards can be seen above the cathedral and the ancient Castle of Braga

The 18th century municipal hall that houses the local government authority